Brogan's Hard Work Pays Off: Gavin

By Peter Branigan

06 August 2018

Bernard Brogan's near miraculous recovery from a cruciate knee injury was confirmed yesterday with his brief cameo for the Dubs in their comfortable victory over Roscommon in the Super 8s at Croke Park.

The Oliver Plunketts Eoghan Ruadh man had suffered the injury in training before The Blues clash with Donegal in the National League, and chose to follow the route of surgery. In February, this was being reported as something which would rule him out for the rest of 2018.

His altnernative option was to follow the path taken by Michael Darragh Macauley, who suffered a similar injury at the start of 2017, but chose to engage in a rehab programme designed to build up the muscles around the knee.

With multiple All-Irelands, Leinsters, All-Stars & a POTY award, it would have been easy for @BernardBrogan to walk away after tearing his cruciate ligamemt back in Feb!

Few gave Brogan any chance of playing again in 2018, but manager Jim Gavin tells FM104 Sport that his recovery is testament to a massive amount of work.

'He's got such a positive outlook on life. From the day the injury happened, he was very focused on getting back around this time of the year, and it's happened for him

'But in the main, it's happened for him because he's got a lot of support, family and friends. But (also) down to Bernard himself, he's put a lot of hard work in there, and that hard work has paid off.

'So it's great to have him back.'

Gavin has been given a selection headache ahead of Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final with Galway. Eoghan O'Gara hit 2-2 from play, and looked less than impressed when he was pulled ashore in the second-half.

Paul Flynn came in at midfield and hit 1-3, while Cormac Costello hit six scores from play out of a total nine points.

'Anybody who was on that pitch there put in a really big shift for the team, not for themselves.

'They play for eachother. That was the rationale from the management team's perspective, to see that.

'Obviously it creates more challenges for us going into next Saturday, a lot of players put their hands up today. That's a great way to have it.'

Dublin face Galway in the All-Ireland Senior Football Champioship semi-final at Croke Park on Saturday (5.0).